Mr. Editor,--Your No. 3. has just fallen into my hands, with the
wonderful account of Schultz's journey of fifty miles in six hours, a
hundred years ago. I am inclined to think the explanation consists in a
misprint. The distances are given in figures, and not in words at
length, if we may trust your correspondent's note on p. 35. May not a 1
have "dropped" before the 6, so that the true lection will be, "dass wir
auf dem ganzen Wege kaum 16 Stunden gefahren sind"? This time
corresponds with the time of return, on which he set out in the evening
(at 8?) of one day and arrived at noon the next. It was also most likely
that the spring carriages of fifteen years later date should go much
faster than the old springless vehicles. Any one who has corrected
proofs will appreciate the "dropping" of a single type, and may be ready
to admit it on such circumstantial evidence.
I may remark that 1749 was still Old Style in England; but the German
Schultz, in dating his expedition on _Sunday_, 10 Aug. 1749, has used
the _New Style_, then prevalent in Germany. Sunday, 10 Aug. 1749, O.S.,
was on Thursday, 31 July, 1749, N.S. The York coach-bill cited on the
same page is in O.S.
Is not "_Stäts_-Kutsche," in the same communication, a misprint?